Oh say, can you see!

Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, 

and your government when it deserves it. 

Mark Twain

This Memorial Day weekend sure started off great!  Friday morning one of my sweet friends gave birth to her second son.  She was gracious enough to let me hold him just hours after he entered this world!  

Baby Jazlaan (meaning Joy), 8 lbs. 1 oz. & 21 in.  This pic was taken when he was only 5 hrs. old!
I was super excited!

Saturday I made my Mom's favorite treat of the summer when we were growing up, lemon-lime jello cake!  I have very distinct memories of my mom making this cake and then placing in the fridge only to come back a few mins later to try a bite or two.  We were a family very fond of eating desserts straight from the fridge (cookie dough did not last long in our house).

Lemon cake with lime jello infused into the sponge
and thickened lemon pudding for frosting.  Yum!

Next, we visited some of our great friends.  The friends who hosted us have so many large parties.  I can't imagine doing the dishes for them!  We also celebrated our sweet host's graduation with her Masters of Architecture!

We have been seeing a little bunny hop around our yard for a few days now and we are quite sure s/he lives in our backyard!  Little bunny foo foo is getting more adventurous and now hangs out to watch us swim in the pool every once in a while.

Little Bunny Foo Foo

The pool saw a lot of action this weekend!  At event # 1 I made some southwest egg rolls, we swam, played with the helicopter, and then headed over to our sweet friends' house to BBQ and have some dinner!

Photo bomb!

Captain Mohammad

Looks like all the eating wore him out!

We ended the holiday weekend with more great friends and lots of fun in the pool.  This time we had Persian style BBQ and more jello cake!

Pool time!

The sweetest family!

Someone passed out...

Jello cake in the pool!

An Empty House

Our guests and their triplets moved out on Saturday.  While it's nice to be able to sleep in once again, we both miss playing with the boys!  At least they don't live too far, so we can visit often :).

The boys trying to steal candy from our candy tray.

Me and the boys

For some reason when you say "Labhan" (smile) this is what happens...

Trying on Khala's (Auntie's) sandals.

Here comes the cleaning crew!

We found a frog!

Chasing the frog

Are we brave enough to touch it?

Trying to touch the frog

The frog trying to escape!
One of the boys did actually catch the frog, but luckily, he escaped.

Mohammad and I had the awesome opportunity to see the Cyrus Cylinder.  From MFAH - Valued throughout the world, the Cyrus Cylinder is such a symbol of tolerance and respect for different peoples and different faiths that a copy is on display at the United Nations in New York. The Cyrus Cylinder was inscribed in Babylonian cuneiform—the earliest form of writing—on the orders of the Persian King Cyrus the Great. It is often referred to as the first bill of human rights because it appears to encourage freedom of worship and to allow deported people to return to their homelands. It was first found in Babylon (now Iraq) in 1879 during a British Museum excavation, and it has been on display at the British Museum ever since.

Persians love Persia

In other news, one of my very favorite cousins recently gave birth to a beautiful baby boy who I am loving from afar.  I can't wait to meet him!  Mohammad and I send lots of love and kisses your way little man!

Such a cutie!

It's raining, it's pouring, the old man is snoring!

Houston we have a flood!!  Things are getting crazy over here today with all this rain.  Last night we even had a power outage (which was foretelling the craziness of the storm to come!).  On another note... the triplets had their first trip to McDonald's and they loved it!

The pool is about to overflow!

The  best way to watch TV

Some of our awesome flowers

Before the rain killed them :(

Amoo and the boys

The boys during our power outage enjoying the makeshift camp light.

Triplets!

It's a busy time here at Villa Tabatabaei.  Triplets are in the house!  I must say they are the most well behaved little boys!  It is a lot of fun to play with them and show them to our friends.  We had a lot of friends over this weekend and we even took a few pictures.  Come visit us!